Wikipedia says the FA Cup is now accepting some clubs at level 11/step 7. According to Wikipedia, level 9/step 5 has 290 clubs, level 10/step 6 has 323 clubs, and level 11/step 7 has 717 clubs. That's a total of 1,330 clubs of which 408 of them (30.7%) will play in the 2011-2012 FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round on 20 August 2011. The Extra Preliminary Round winners will join the clubs in level 8/step 4 in the Preliminary Round. FA Cup games will be played every other week from the Extra Preliminary Round through the First Round Proper, which is a total of seven rounds. The gaps between when rounds are played get bigger after that.
http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup/~/med...ies Accepted.ashx/FA Cup Entries Accepted.pdf lists the participating clubs.
The Second Round Qualifying is today which will reduce the field from 276 clubs to 196 clubs. Clubs in Conference North and Conference South start in the Second Round Qualifying.
Here are how the current Top 8 clubs in the Conference North and Conference South standings faired in the Second Round Qualifying: Conference North: 1st: Hyde won 3-0 2nd: Stalybridge Celtic lost 2-1 to 4th Guiseley 3rd: Gainsborough Trinity won 2-1 on a replay after a 2-2 draw 5th: Corby Town won 3-1 on a replay after a 1-1 draw 6th: Nuneaton Town won 3-0 7th: Worcester City lost 2-1 to Godalming Town, who is currently 5th in Isthmian League Division One South (level 8/step 4) 8th: Boston United lost 2-0 to Kidsgrove Athletic on a replay after a 0-0 draw, Kidsgrove Athletic is currently 16th in Northern Premier League Division One South (level 8/step 4) Conference South: 1st: Woking won 7-0 2nd: Dartford won 5-0 3rd: Welling United lost 2-1 to Bromley, who is currently 13th in Conference South 4th: Sutton United won 5-1 5th: Basingstoke Town won 2-0 on a replay after a 0-0 draw 6th: Salisbury City won 3-0 7th: Weston-super-Mare won 1-0 8th: Chelmsford City won 3-0 The top clubs in Conference South did better than the top clubs in Conference North. Out of the 14 clubs I listed that didn't play each other, 11 won, 1 lost to another club at the same level, and 2 lost to clubs two levels worse. The draw for the Third Round Qualifying has been done. 80 clubs will play in that round on 15 October with no new entries.
The Fourth Round Qualifying was yesterday and that's when the Conference National (hereafter CN) clubs start. 7 of the 32 games require replays. York City, who is third in CN got a tough draw and lost 2-1 at Wrexham who leads CN. Manswood Town (eighth in CN) hosted Fleetwood Town (second in CN) in a 1-1 draw that will have a replay. The four CN clubs that are in the top eight and were not drawn against another top eight club all won. Once the replays are done there will be 124 clubs still alive. I'll start a new topic for the First Round Proper.
